General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDoes this comic strip cross the line? Were the syndicate editors right to refuse to run it?
https://twitter.com/stephanpastis/status/758471559950368768
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)Mendocino
(7,495 posts)Imagine if Nixon the Paranoid had modern surveillance methods and devices available. His enemies list would have been a mile high.
Iggo
(47,558 posts)FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Then again, it IS Stephan Pastis - it is probably a swerve.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)That shit is funny.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,182 posts)I thought it was hilarious. But I think Pearls Before Swine is frequently laugh out loud hilarious. Stephan Pastis is a master at clever wordplay.
PBS is one strip I'll always read even if I'm in a hurry.
treestar
(82,383 posts)that would never happen so it does not pass comic muster - there has to be something realistic to make it funny.
Chiyo-chichi
(3,581 posts)A talking pig would never be arrested as a result of a misunderstanding that resulted from the NSA monitoring communications for keywords.
treestar
(82,383 posts)As if they'd be listening to kids in the first place.
It is in their own interests to target the right people. And there is a FISA procedure. Too many exaggerations in this alleged fear of being monitored by the government with no cause.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Is not exaggeration one of the tools of Horatian satire?
treestar
(82,383 posts)to still allow something to seem real. Even real tyrants did not arrest kids - they tried to use them as spies. None of them cared about grammar. There's a line there somewhere.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)they are speaking.
are you talking about?
mythology
(9,527 posts)A guy was interviewed by the police in England for texting Clash lyrics.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/jun/03/terrorism.world
Another guy was detained for several hours for singing along to the Clash.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-382039/Playing-The-Clash-terror-suspect.html
An economist was detained here for doing math.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/05/07/professors-airplane-math-leads-flight-delay/84084914/
You're right it isn't funny. But that's because it's all too real. Comedy is tragedy plus time. We haven't had the time yet.
JEB
(4,748 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)And that is one of them.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,330 posts)... supposedly pledging loyalty to ISIS. I know it wasn't a withe tap but the guy was just talking on a cell phone.
treestar
(82,383 posts)and the persons questioned were not arrested, etc. Also no government direct spying was involved as in the cartoon. It was some person dumb enough to be afraid by what they saw/heard. They were let go when the explanation became clear. It does not involve government misdeeds at all, which is the point of the cartoon, which apparently implies the NSA is listening and will haul people in for things that have nothing to do with terrorism whatsoever.
Rex
(65,616 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Very good.
Response to treestar (Reply #7)
Rex This message was self-deleted by its author.
BobbyDrake
(2,542 posts)Thanks for the smile I got from it.
DawgHouse
(4,019 posts)I think it's quite humorous.
Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)No and no.
GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)Maeve
(42,282 posts)One of the reasons I like it!
leftyladyfrommo
(18,868 posts)the current climate.
I love his cartoons and I think all the people who follow him all the time would not have been offended. He just loves to play with words and phrases. But I can see where someone just looking at it for the first time might not really understand and think he had gone one too far.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Dyedinthewoolliberal
(15,577 posts)seems to me that strip falls exactly under the First Amendment........
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,330 posts)demmiblue
(36,865 posts)TheCowsCameHome
(40,168 posts)What's the problem?
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Possibly a chickens**t syndication editor, possibly Stephan having some fun.
Anyhow, he asked for a debate, so I moved it over here!
LAS14
(13,783 posts)FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Ugh. I keep trying to post the pulled strip in question, but fittingly, it keeps coming up solid black. Fortunately, it is showing up on Twitter. Just search for my name on Twitter: Stephan Pastis. My apologies!
As you will see, it is not offensive at all. At least not to me. I think that with recent events, it's just a sensitive issue. I will try posting it again here, but if it comes up solid black, just go to Twitter.
Update: someone has posted it in the comments. I will leave it up to you to debate whether or not it should have run.
Response to FrodosPet (Original post)
BigDemVoter This message was self-deleted by its author.
ghostsinthemachine
(3,569 posts)Pretty funny.
rurallib
(62,423 posts)it goes nowhere near a line.
Now what Trump said yesterday goes waaaaaay past any line.
matt819
(10,749 posts)rusty fender
(3,428 posts)It is
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)I like Stephan Pastis, too.
Rex
(65,616 posts)So they didn't run it, because it is true? See how stupid that works out, they should have ran it what stupid Big Brother shit.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)I guess we can call them Little Brother with a Press Pass.